Bronze Age Bavaria Museum

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The Bronze Age Bavaria Museum shows Bronze Age finds from Bernstorf (Gutshof bei Kranzberg) and findings from other parts of Bavaria. The museum, which opened in 2014, is located in the municipality of Kranzberg on the historically important Kranzberger Pantaleonsberg. It goes back to the initiative of the amateur archaeologist Manfred Moosauer , who, together with Traudl Bachmaier, reported sensational finds of the Bronze Age fortification near Bernstorf , which had been known since 1904 and was threatened by gravel mining .

Logo of the Bronze Age Bavaria Museum

history

After intensive efforts by the discoverer von Bernstorf and current museum coordinator Manfred Moosauer, as well as the chairman of the Pantaleonsberg Support Group, Alfons Berger, it was possible to establish the small museum equipped with audiovisual facilities and to organize the necessary funds. The right place for this was the Pantaleonsberg in Kranzberg, on which the castle of the Wittelsbach keeper used to stand.

The Kranzberger Schlossberg, which has been completely cleared since 1807, i.e. the approximately 2,500 square meter hilltop, which is now called Pantaleonsberg, was only rebuilt in 1938 during the National Socialist era . An elongated building complex for the Hitler Youth was created , which was connected by a covered corridor to a pavilion built at the same time. This small building, placed in the south-east corner, was converted into the new Pantaleon Chapel in 2002.

exhibition

The gold jewelry (as a copy) on a doll

The exhibition is housed in the attic of the small hall, which is used by the community on the Pantaleonsberg for a variety of events. In the museum, which is characterized by multimedia forms of presentation, you can learn a lot about the Bronze Age in Bavaria and its connections to the Mediterranean region both visually and in a playful way. A screening room that can accommodate larger groups enables film screenings and audiovisual presentations.

In the "old school house" just a few hundred meters from the museum there is a supplementary museum educational facility (it guides you through all epochs of human history), which is primarily intended to appeal to children.

Pantaleonsberg

This mountain on the outskirts of Kranzberg is a round hill with steeply sloping sides, which represents a castle stable . It towers above the bottom of the Ampertal by about forty meters. It is the former Schlossberg, which nowadays has the name Pantaleonsberg in the local cadastre. Its name is derived from the chapel on top of it, which has been dedicated to Saint Pantaleon for centuries. The current one was only built and inaugurated in 2007.

From the Middle Ages to the early modern period, a stately castle stood on this castle stables, in which there was already a first Pantaleon chapel. Local history shows that the former ducal court served the Chranichsberg ministerial family as a residence since 1200, because at that time the Wittelsbachers began to expand their territorial rule by forming regional courts , and with this castle secured the Amperübergang. There is evidence that Kranzberg was the seat of a regional court in the 14th century, and for centuries the ducal keeper sat on the Schlossberg as a representative of the Wittelsbach duke.

The castle buildings were reduced to rubble by fifty Swedish horsemen in 1632, during the Thirty Years' War. Above the surface, nothing can be seen of this once large complex, as the remains of the wall were removed in 1660 and the bricks were transported to Munich to be used in the new building of the Marstall. The old Pantaleon Chapel was then rebuilt and only demolished in 1807. At that time the bricks were used to build the first Kranzberg schoolhouse.

Meaning of Bernstorf

The discoverer of Bernstorf: Manfred Moosauer

Manfred Moosauer , the discoverer of Bernstorf, describes his findings as follows:

Bernstorf (Kranzberg), the "sunken city from the Bronze Age" is now one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Europe in recent years, according to the findings and research results ... It shows a very high cultural value, especially in relation to the neighboring Mediterranean region:
With an area of ​​over 14 hectares, proven by the most modern research methods (airborne laser scanning and large-scale magnetometry), Bernstorf is undoubtedly the largest fortification of the Middle Bronze Age from the 14th century BC. North of the Alps.
With an amber face and Mycenaean script in an amber seal and the cult outfit of a (priest) prince with a crown diadem made of Egyptian gold with traces of incense, mercantile and cultural, religious references from the North Sea to the Nile are shown across the Mycenaean / Minoan culture. These finds are unique, they are also the oldest script and the oldest crown north of the Alps, not to mention the amazing artistic design with reference to the Mediterranean world.
Bernstorf was part of a trans-European network that stretched during the Bronze Age from the eastern Mediterranean with Egypt - and certainly beyond deep into Asia - to the Baltic Sea. The elaborately built fortifications, the presence of imported goods such as amber and refined Egyptian gold and, above all, the unique discovery of an amber seal with a linear B mark and an amber face speak for themselves.

Recent research on Bernstorf

Astrid Röpke sums up the importance of the research project as follows:

The question of the function of the Bronze Age fortifications is a central point of recent research. The finds of gold and amber (decorated and undecorated) suggest that Bernstorf played an important role in the exchange of goods and the transfer of ideas. The exceptionality of the gold and amber finds could make the presence of local elites likely. A comparison with similar forms of jewelry in the Aegean region and the documented use of tiara there as well as the careful treatment of the pieces on site also suggest that the site has a cultic significance. In view of the excavation results, a look into the settlement area around the site is also essential to clarify Bernstorf's role. Here, in particular, the relationship to the Freising Domberg, whose settlement ended at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, must be examined more closely. However, the recording of simultaneous settlements in the immediate vicinity of Bernstorf and the reconstruction of the settlement landscape are becoming increasingly important under the suspicion that the fortification itself was not extensively populated. Closely related to this are questions about the economic background of the settlements and the reconstruction of the landscape.
The aim of the new research is the fundamental processing of the Bernstorf fortification and its settlement history as well as the embedding of the site in the settlement landscape in the Ampertal and the clarification of the position and function in this settlement structure. The importance of Bernstorf in a supraregional Bronze Age exchange network of goods, conceptions and ideas, especially with regard to contacts in the Aegean region, is to be examined. These questions are to be answered with archaeological means and with the help of a variety of scientific approaches and methods.

Because of the extraordinarily high degree of purity of the gold jewelry, Ernst Pernicka , who holds a doctorate in chemistry and holds a chair in archaeometry, expressed doubts about its assignment to the Bronze Age. To the objection that the gold from Bernstorf has a similarly high purity as the gold from the coffin of Akhenaten through cementation , he replies that the silver and copper contents are completely different.

Pernicka's argument that the gold from Bernstorf was modern gold led to suspicion of the falsification of the find by the amateur archaeologists Moosauer and Bachmaier. Thus Gebhard / Krause examined and documented all aspects of the authenticity check of the Bernstorf finds and thus proved that these Bernstorf finds are authentic as far as humanly possible. The case of the “ Nebra Sky Disc ” was cited as a prime example of a questionable authenticity test .

In Chapter 2 of the analysis volume on "Bernstorf" by Gebhard / Krause, the authenticity of the Nebra depot find is examined in detail and the result is questioned because the reports on the detailed scientific investigations by Pernicka are not yet available and the fact of a depot find is not considered secure can apply.

The thesis of forgery was further supported by the determination of the production technology by neutron scattering at the Technical University of Munich. All artifacts showed a cube-type {100} "001" texture that is typical of many cold rolled and subsequently annealed and recrystallized fcc metals. By comparing with laboratory-made reference samples, hammers with or without subsequent annealing or cross-rolling for the production of the gold foils could be excluded. However, similar microstructures as in Bernstorf could be created by cold rolling and subsequent annealing. The rolling of gold has only been documented since the Middle Ages. In summary, one gets dubious find conditions, very unusual material composition and manufacturing techniques unknown at the time in question.

financing

The establishment and equipment of the museum was financially supported by the following cities and municipalities:

  • Allershausen
  • Eching
  • Fahrenzhausen
  • Haimhausen
  • Hallbergmoos
  • Herbertshausen
  • Ismaning
  • Church Village
  • Kranzberg
  • Neufahrn
  • Unterschleissheim

Funding agencies:

  • Bavarian State Ministry for Education and Culture, Science and Art, State Office for Non-State Museums in Bavaria
  • Government of Upper Bavaria, Culture Fund Upper Bavaria
  • District of Upper Bavaria
  • District of Dachau
  • District of Freising
  • Fürstenfeldbrück district
  • District of Munich Land
  • Pfaffenhofen district

Foundations:

  • Bavarian State Foundation
  • Bavarian People's Foundation
  • Bavarian Sparkasse Foundation
  • Raiffeisenbank Munich-North Foundation
  • EvS Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation

Companies:

  • AUDI AG Ingolstadt
  • FMG Munich Airport Company

Financial Institutions:

  • Savings Bank Dachau
  • Sparkasse Freising
  • Sparkasse Fürstenfeldbruck
  • Sparkasse Pfaffenhofen
  • District Savings Banks Munich
  • Sparkasse Ebersberg
  • Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Dachau eG
  • Freisinger Bank eG

other sponsors:

  • Friends of Bavarian Pre- and Early History e. V.
  • Friends of the City of Munich V.
  • Fam. Dr. Horst Appelhagen
  • Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans Eichinger
  • Dr. Hans Niederberger
  • The Axel Strotbek family
  • Carl Kittel Eching
  • Marble Tabarelli Unterschleißheim
  • Ingolstadt Village Factory Outlet Center

Web links

Commons : Bronze Age Bavaria Museum Kranzberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Reports about the museum opening:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.wiewowi.com/User/DescriptionShow.aspx?DescTownId=1c52cf94-9055-492a-a228-57313eecb435
  2. ↑ Dr. Astrid Röpke (soil science and micromorphology); Further own DFG project: "The Bronze Age fortification of Bernstorf (Upper Bavaria, Germany) - Geoarchaeological-micromorphological research on the site and the prehistoric soils" from 2013 to 2014, [1]
  3. ↑ Too much gold to be true , on sueddeutsche.de of October 24, 2014, accessed on October 24, 2014.
  4. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/33052909/Authentizit%C3%A4tspr%C3%BCfungen_Methoden_M%C3%B6glichkeiten_Grenzen._Kapitel_2_aus_Rupert_Gebhard_und_R%C3%BCdiger_Krause_Bernstorf._Arch%C3%A4ologisch-_naturwissenschaftliche_Analysen_der_Gold-_und_Bernsteinfunde_vom_Bernstorfer_Berg_bei_Kranzberg_Oberbayern_
  5. ↑ Rupert Gebhard, Rüdiger Krause: Bernstorf, archaeological and scientific analyzes of the gold and amber finds from Bernstorfer Berg near Kranzberg, Upper Bavaria (= treatises and inventory catalogs of the State Archaeological Collection. Volume 3 / Frankfurter Archäologische Schriften . Volume 31). Archaeological State Collection Munich, Munich 2016, Chapter 2.
  6. ^ FE Wagner, R. Gebhard, WM Gan and M. Hofmann: The Metallurgical Texture of gold artefacts from the Bronze Age Rampart of Bernstorf (Bavaria) Studied by Neutron Diffraction. In: NINMACH 2017 Contribution. Retrieved December 28, 2017 (English). doi: 10.1016 / j.jasrep.2018.05.005
  7. ^ Museum Today 46, State Office for the Non-State Museums in Bavaria

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Rieder: Bronze Age Bavaria Museum Kranzberg Bernstorf. Edited by Karl-Heinz Rieder on behalf of the Kranzberg community, Ulm 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-045969-6 (= museum guide)

Coordinates: 48 ° 24 ′ 16.2 "  N , 11 ° 36 ′ 56.5"  E